Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 61:

In page 52, after line 32, to insert the following: "54.The Minister shall, within 6 months of the passing of this bill, bring a report on the second reduced rate of VAT of 9 per cent and additional revenue that could be raised by bringing this rate back to 13.5 per cent.".

This proposal calls for a report on the reduced rate of VAT of 9% in the hospitality and tourism sector. There was speculation in advance of the budget that the reduced rate would be done away with. I would say the hospitality sector lobbied hard to ensure that it was not.

The total cost of this VAT reduction between 2011 and 2016 is €2.2 billion. It is a large amount of money. The projected reduction for the coming year, according to the answers we got back in preparation for the budget, is €491 million. This, in reality, ends up in the pockets of employers in a highly profitable low-wage sector. I have not seen any evidence to suggest that this kind of foregone revenue is worth the benefits that it brings because it ends up in the pockets of the already quite wealthy employers in this sector. I would like to hear the rationale for not changing it in the budget and for continuing this giveaway of approximately €0.5 billion a year as opposed to using that money directly to invest, including in regional development.